Ventilating system for vessels.



No. 684,749. Patented Oct. l5, 190i. A. K. FINLAY VENTILATING SYSTEM F08VESSELS.

(Application filed Jan. 21, 1001.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

No. 684,749. Patented Oct. l5, IQOI. A. K. FINLAY.

VENTILATING SYSTEM FOR VESSELS.

[Application filed Jan. 21, 1901.)

(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Afltzmm v S THE uonms wsmns cc. PHOTO-LXTHLL WASHINGTON, o, 4:.

UNITED STATES PATENT union.

ALEXANDER K. FINLAY, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

VENTILATING SYSTEM FOR VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,749, dated October15, 1901.

Application filed January 21, 1901, Serial No. 44,090. (No model.)

To mil whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER K. FINLAY, acitizen of the United States,residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State ofLouisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inVentilating Systems for Vessels; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled-in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

The preservation of a cargo of perishable fruit during a long voyage canonly be accomplished by the attainment and maintenance in the interiorof the vessel of a fixed temperature, as near 60 Fahrenheit as possible.The varying conditions to which a ship is subjected will not admit of aconstant temperature in all parts of her interior without specialattention. The action of the sun first on one side, again on the other,causes varying degrees of heat, and it will be necessary to exercise areasonable amount of vigilance to observe and provide for the varia'tions which occur.

There are two or more contingencies which must be duly met, and it iswith the view of providing for them that I have devised a method ofstowin g tropical fruit on shipboard or in freight-cars by suspending itfrom ceiling to floor. This is preliminary and enables the subsequentpart of the system to be carried out. It is only by ventilation andconstant circulation of the atmosphere in the hold of a vessel or in theinterior of a fruitcarrying freight-car that a constant temperature canbe maintained, and the conditions requisite therefor are in somerespects analogous to those which are found in the problem of heating orwarming a house or a ship. Warming a house or ship in cold weatherrequires the exclusion of the exterior atmosphere. Therefore the windowsand doors of the house and the hatches and ports of the ship are closedinorder to succeed. The ship which carries perishable fruit must behermetically sealed, the only openings permissible in her cargospacesbeing those which permit the entrance of the artificially cooledatmosphere which is driven through those spaces and the exit for thesame after it has performed its duty and undergone the slight warmingwhich may of necessity happen.

Oargoes of perishable material, such as carcasses of sheep and oxen,have bee-n transported for thousands of miles during voyages of manyweeks duration by maintaining a very low temperature in the compartmentsin which they are stored. Now while a freezing temperature does notinjure such material it would be utterly inadmissible with tropicalfruit-e. g., bananas, pineapples, alligator pears, &c. Referring to thefirst (bananas) especially, it is a well-known fact that a temperaturebelow Fahrenheit chills the banana and kills it. It cannot ripenafterward. Subsequent exposure to a warm atmosphere causes it to blackenand rot and renders it unfit for use.

The exposure of perishable tropical fruit to the prevailing temperatureof its habitat for more than a few days means its destruction fromoverripening and decay. Hence the importance of two conditionsfirst,that the fruit shipped must not be ripe nor even in the incipientripening stage when it is bought and loaded. Rank green must be thecolor of the bunches. A shade of yellow condemns it, and the fruit iseither refused or sold at a price far below the regular rate. Now ifhalf-ripe fruit be kept at a temperature which will not chill and killit, on the one hand, by reason of its coldness and which willnot permitits decomposition by reason of its exposure its preservation is achievedfor a reasonable period-say two or three weeks.

To meet the requirements, I propose the use of an air-compressor whichwill produce a supply of very cold air. This very cold air must not beused to lower the temperature of the cargo-spaces directly, because itwould chill and kill a portion of or all of the fruit carried. It isused as a means of lowering the prevailing temperature of the exteriorair. Just so much of the chilled air as may be found necessary to reducethe temperature of the tropics to 58 or 60. Fahrenheit, and no more,shall be mingled with the ventilat ing-air to be employed.

The apparatus for carrying out the hereinin Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detailview showing a reservoir for cold air and the mixing-chamber connectedthereto, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the cooling apparatus with thepump for delivering the cooled air to the various storage-compartments.

Referring first to Fig. 4, A represents an air-pump of any suitabletype, having a cylinder A delivering air through the pipes at a to acoil A in the chamber B, which is supplied with sea-water through thepipes b, which sea-Waterpasses 0a through thepipesb. The purpose of thiscooling-chamber B is to carry off the heat developed in compressing theair. The air thus partly cooled passes from the coil A to the pipe 0,leading backward and forward through the brine-tank D, which is keptcool by the pipe E, connected to an ammonia ice plant, as by the pipes ec. Any other means of cooling may be adopted, if desired; but an ammoniaice plant would ordinarily be preferred on account of its cheapness.From the pipe 0' in the brinetank D the cooled air passes to theair-reservoir F, where it is kept stored. This reservoir shouldpreferably be covered with any suitable insulating material. (Notshown.)

The air-reservoir F is connected by means of the pipe f, controlled bythe valve f, .to the mixing-chamber G, and the said pipefpreferablyterminates in a rose or other sprayf whereby the cold air from thechamber F is minutely divided on entering the chamber G. This chamber Gis also connected to the return-pipe H, which terminates into theperforated portion h (see Fig. 1) and sucks air from the compartments tobe ventilated. The mixed air from the reservoir F and from thereturn-pipe H is drawn from the chamber G through the pipe I andbranches 2' c" to the cylinder K, operated by the delivery-pump K. Fromcylinder K the air is delivered through the branch pipes m and m to thedelivery-main M, which is connected to the supply-pipesN and branchpipes N. (See Fig. 1.) These pipes N are preferably arranged in the topof each chamber and are preferably perforated at the side, as shown tothe right in Fig. 1. There may be any number of these transfer-pipes N,though only one is shown in each chamber in Fig. 1.

The storage-compartment is preferably divided up into a number ofseparate chambers O, separated from each other by canvas partitions P,attached by means of eyebolts and lacings or in any other convenient wayto the lower deck R and the upper deck S. A passage O is preferably leftbetween the Various chambers, and glass plates 10 are provided alongthis passage to enable the attendants to look through and see one ormore thermometers located inside of the cooling-chamber O.

Q represents any suitable device for suspending the bananas or otherfruit Q.

The operation of the device is as follows: The compressed air is forcedfrom the cylinder A through the cooling-coil A and then through thebrine-tank D to the reservoir F, from which it is drawn through thepipeftothe mixing-chamber G. The return air from the system is alsosucked from the pipe H into the chamber G, and the two together areforced by the pump K to the pipe M, whence they are delivered to thepipes N and N, and from the latter they enter the chambers 0 underpressure. The path of the air going from the pipes N follows thedirection of the arrows in Fig. 1 and after eddying through the cham berO is sucked off by the perforated portions h of the pipe H and iscarried back to the mixin g-cham ber G. The air in the various cham bers0 being under pressure, there will be more or less leakage fromaccidental openings, and therefore the whole amount of air delivered tothe system does not go back through the pipe H, the deficiency beingsupplied from the reservoir F. By having the air under pressure in thevarious compartments and having positive currents set up, as indicated,the cooling-air will pass between and around the fruit and will maintainthe desired temperature at all parts of the compartments.

It will be obvious that in cold weather steam maybe turned through thepipes E in the tank D, and thus the air may be warmed instead of cooledbefore it passes into the reservoir F.

In the herein-described system I have endeavored to secure two importantconditionsthat is, economy and simplicity.

Aside from the refrigerating machinery the expense of fitting a vesselor car is nominal. The permanent part of the ventilating anddistributing service being secured to the ceiling of the cargo-spaceswill not in any way interfere with the stowage of return cargoes, andthe arrangement of divisions when light canvas is used can be rapidlyeffected. Half an hour suffices to change the ship from a fruiter to afreighter, and vice versa. The suspending cords or wire can be put awayin a small place during the return trip. Likewise the bulkheads, whichcan be rapidly unfastened, may be folded and stored away until againneeded. The final ventilating-tubes, consisting of a perpendicular tubescrewed onto one of same dimensions permanently attached to the maintube and leading down to the perforated tube lying along the ceiling inthe middle of its compartment, can be quickly attached and removed. Acheck-valve in each of the cross-tubes in the passage-way will serve toincrease or diminish the volume of ventilating-air at will. Theescape-tubes from the middle of the ceiling of each compartment can bepermanently placed, as they will not be in the way.

It will be obvious that various modifications might be made in theherein-described apparatus which could be used without departing fromthe spirit of my invention.

The ventilating and cooling system above described can be employed forcooling the passenger apartments of sea going vessels and railroadpassenger-cars using suitable means for the escape of the air, as thereturn air must not be used. Fresh a'ir only should be employed forhuman beings, and it should be drawn from a pipe terminating a shortheight above the deck of the vessel or car.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A storage system for transporting tropical fruits comprising a closedcargo-space, vertical partitions or bulkheads secured in the cargo-spaceand dividing the same into separate compartments, an air-compressor, a

heads secured in the cargo-space and dividing the same into separatecompartments with passages between said compartments, an aircompressor,a water-chamber with coil therein receiving the air from saidcompressor, a cooling-chamber connected to said coil, an air-reservoir,a mixing-chamber connected to said reservoir, and also to saidcompartments, and an air-pump and pipes delivering air from saidmixing-chamber to said compartments, substantially as described.

3. In a storage system for transporting tropical fruits applicable inmarine vessels, the combination with canvas partitions or bulkheadsremovably secured in the cargo-space and dividing the cargo-space intoseparate compartments, gangways or passages between said compartments,means for indicating the temperature within the various compartmentsfrom said gangways, an air-compressor, a water-chamber with coil thereinreceiving the air from said compressor, a cooling-chamber connected tosaid coil, an air-reservoir, a mixing-chamber connected to saidreservoir and also to said compartments, and an airpump and pipesdelivering air from said mix ing-chamber to said compartments,substantially as described.

4. In a vessel for transporting tropical fruits, the combination with acargo-space, and bulkheads dividing said space into com-- partments; ofan air-compressor, a cooling coil through which air from said compressorpasses, a refrigerating-coil through which air from said cooling coilpasses, a reservoir adapted to receive the cooled air from saidrefrigerating coil, a mixing chamber connected to said reservoir, areturn-pipe from said compartments connected to said mixing chamber, andan air-compressor connected to said mixing-chamber adapted to supply thecooled and mixed air to said compartments, substantially as described.

n testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALEXANDER FINLAY.

Witnesses:

AUGUST CAMBIAs, F. E. RAINOLD.

